


Best Fit

by honestgrins



Series: To Rely on the Kindness of Strangers [267]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: All-Human, F/M, Workplace Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26803459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins
Summary: Anonymous asked: Annoying art museum curator Klaus keeps pestering art restorer Caroline about her technique. Everyone including him knows she's the best in the business, but he likes to ruffle her feathers.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Series: To Rely on the Kindness of Strangers [267]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/378628
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	Best Fit

Pursing her lips, Caroline refused to give him the satisfaction of distracting her. There was a fifty-fifty chance Klaus was doing it just to bug her, as opposed to genuine nerves for the work itself. As a control freak, she could understand his need to obsessively check in on an important restoration. So, she painstakingly compared the pigment samples to the original composition, happily ignoring him - until his shadow fell over her work table. “You’re in my light.”

“Am I?”

He was deliberately annoying her, then. Excellent. Glaring up at him until he moved, she refused to soften at the delighted appearance of his dimples. “I assume you’re here on behalf of the owner, in which case you can submit their opinions or requests in writing. Otherwise, everything is going perfectly in accordance with museum standards.”

Settling himself in her desk chair across the way, he crossed his legs to look the picture of ease. “Of that I have no doubt, love,” he said. “This is a personal call.”

Her hand froze over the sample card, paint pooling where her brush stopped. “I thought we agreed that… _that_ …was a one-time thing.”

“Did we?”

With a patience she couldn’t explain, Caroline set her work aside and looked up to meet his intent gaze. “Klaus-”

“One drink,” he offered, fiddling his thumbs in an almost nervous fashion. She’d never seen him nervous before, didn’t know he had an insecure bone in his body. Always too charming and confident, Klaus looked anything but now. For a searing hot second, she understood why she had invited him home with her after the gala _that_ night, because this charming man was so obviously trying not to be charmed by her in return - and utterly failing. “I like you, Caroline, and I think you like me. When you’re not pretending to hate me, anyway.”

She bit back a smile at that. “You’re a pest and you know it.”

His lips curled up, and he shrugged. “Only on things that matter.” The words were weighty with whatever it was between them, forever tempting in a way she couldn’t deny.

_This_ mattered, and it wasn’t going away like she thought it might after the gala.

Stubbornly, she picked up her brush again and went back to her work. She waited for Klaus to stand, sighing, before she spoke. “Okay.” He froze, and she smiled down at the table. “One drink.”

He stepped back into her light, the tension crackling with a new excitement. She buzzed with awareness when his arm just brushed hers when he pointed at the sample. “I prefer the one on the left.”

And she was suddenly exasperated again. “Noted,” she snapped, still fighting a smile. “Now get out before I change my mind.”

Hands raised, he backed slowly out of her office with that smirk. “Please don’t,” he said, sounding completely earnest. “I’ll text you later, love.”

Shaking her head, Caroline watched him leave with a disbelieving grin. When she turned back to the sample, however, she scowled. “Of course,” she muttered, noting that the left option was indeed the best fit. 

He was good.


End file.
